blog | March - 2017

TED has come to be a massive cultural force in the past years. If you’re not one of the approximately 16 million subscriber or one of the 2 billion views, I will have to intervene!

Sometimes it is better to live under  a rock, but definitely not in this case. 

The TED conferences (abbr. for technology, entertainment, design) are taking place two times a year and are gathering place for an exclusive group of specialists. Ideas are exchanged and talks are given, according to the motto “ideas worth spreading”. - It’s the ultimate spa for the brain. 

The TED- Talks Youtube Channel represents the source for inspiring and informative input. Even developer and tech-freaks get their money’s worth. 

Today I want to introduce you to the five best TED-Talks, that will cause you sleepless nights cause they really are that good. 

 

1. “Coding a better government” | Jennifer Pahlka
   https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_pahlka_coding_a_better_government
   
   As activist and coder, Jennifer Pahlka believes that cheap and quick developed apps are a powerful tool to connect citizens with their government. 
   
    
2.  “Why I teach people how to hack” | Ýmir Vigfússon
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwJyKmCbOws
   
   In his TED-Talk Ýmir explains why he teaches his students how to hack and gives an insight into computer security. He shows that having “dangerous abilities”, doesn’t necessarily make you dangerous. 
   
    
3.  “10 top time-saving tech tips” | David Pogue 
   https://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_10_top_time_saving_tech_tips?language=de
   
   You might be an outstanding developer, but do you have your Tech-License? This video shares 10 tips for computer, mobile phone, internet and camera, that you haven't heard of before! Guaranteed!
   
    
4. “How I taught myself to code” | Letha Soyizwapi
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmZR_JsLCfg
   
   Litha explains how his gall and curiosity lead him to graphic design, coding and eventually to programming an app. 
   
    
5.  “How brain science will change computing” | Jeff Hawkins 
   http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hawkins_on_how_brain_science_will_change_computing
   
   This talk will convince you that the understanding of the human brain, is going to significantly change the future of computing. 

So instead of watching the disturbing “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” - Video, you should better browse the TED channel for some helpful and inspiring videos.

What is your favourite TED-Talk?

You’re almost at finish line! You're résumé was good enough to get you a job interview. Congrats!

Admittedly, a lot will be required of you in a job interview. You might know, that you're the king and the search is ends with you. But how do you convince your counterpart? 

We collected some tips for you (by papa hy personally!), that would help you prepare for your next interview. 

The Interview with hy

These point are to be considered 

• Preferably wear your favourite clothes
• Take off the working-mask - just be yourself
• What are you really up for?
• What don't you like about your current situation? 
• What aspect of your work keeps you going? 
• What things does your new job need to fulfil? 
• Why do you want  job change? Could it just be a short term down? 

hy found a company that fits your demands - nice! 
 

Prepare well and show them what you got!

In case you don't think about your outfit ever, now is the time! You can’t go wrong with dark jeans and a pattern-less shirt at most interviews. But more important is for you to feel comfortable. Only thus you can really be yourself. 

Check out the internet presence of the company. Including Google News, Kunun, Xing, LinkedIn and the website of course. You should also search into the major revenue source. Thus you can think about what added value you can bring in your potential position. In positions that cause expenses, concentrate on economise costs by e.g. automating processes which thereby saves time for other things. 

To learn to gradually identify with the company you should know what philosophy is followed. When and where was the company founded? How does the company manifest itself in front of clients? With which clients are they working anyway? Is the field they working in future-oriented? If you want to know the details look up platforms like www.handelsregister.de or bundesanzeiger.de (free) and www.firmendatnbank.de (fee required). You’re welcome!

In the interview you won’t get plus point for presenting a summary of your research, though. More for asking questions that you built on your research. 

Questions that are asked your counterpart, should be answered shortly. Don't start yarning a net of stories and waste your valuable talk time. Present the facts of you that represent yourself. 

In case your not a good speaker, try to prepare small parts. For example the explanation of a certain field or a project. That’s how you prevent the “Äh’s” and “Ehm’s”, that we all like to avoid.

Important questions you could have for the employer

• Did my position exist before me or is it created by me? 
• What exactly will be my task? 
• With whom will I mainly be working? Which interfaces will there be? 
• What expectations do I have to fulfil in what time? 
• What are the biggest challenges for the company? 
• Where will the company be in 5 years? What are long term goals? 
•  

(Heads up: The last two questions can be asked by the employer as well)

Next to all the tips we just gave you, we would also like you to take to heat to primarily concentrate on your tasks and don’t get distracted by monetary promises.
Isn't the daily motivation, the appeal of the job, the joy to get up everyday and create something cool, much more important? This is the only way to be happy with ones working life long term. 

Twitter, Dropbox, Google Hangouts and and and. It often is an annoying affair to keep track of tools, that are needed for daily work. How fluent the communication in a company works, determines the efficiency and work climate. “Slack”, the so called “Email Killer”, want to reconcile tools that work well alone but not together. Slack not only masters the chat + integration combo, but can also link bots, that will let your productivity shoot threw the roof, cause they can remove or simplify tasks. 

So, following this, 10 bots that you should run the rule over!

1. Trello

Although the opinions of Trello are very different in the hy-office, it is still a Tool, that can provide a good overview of projects. You can easily collect ideas or checklists and illustrate them nicely. Slack can help inform you about progress and new tasks. 

2. Brand24

Extremely cool! The Brand24 integration lets you see what is said about your brand in the WWW. (hopefully just good things)

3. Polly

With pretty Polly, you can create surveys in seconds. Anonym voting or also “Team happens tracking”. Polly can do it all!

4. Beep Boop

Your next friend could be Beep Boop! He makes it dauntingly easy to develop and host your own Slack bot. After the integration of Github and the decision with which language you want to program, a source code of an easy bot will copied into you account, with which you can work. But Beep Boop doesn't make that for you just like that. He needs to earn his money somehow too, For only 5 USD per bot and month you're in!

5. Coffee runner

Seemingly small tasks of a company can take a long time. Wa at hy can tell you a thing or two about it! But a fault confessed is half redressed, right? We all need a coffee sooner or later. If you’re the “coffee runner”, send a message to the bot and he will collect the wishes of the team for you. Easy as that and it didn't even hurt!

6. Howdy

This bot automatises recurring tasks, so you can use your time for more important work. Saving the world and so on. Howdy collects information from your team. “How is the project going?”, “What are we eating for lunch?”. Howdy asks the questions for you and sends the answers summarised back to you.

7. Meekan

Meekan compared the calendars of each team member and quickly finds a free date for a meeting that suits all.

8. Monkey test it

Here, a small monkey will take apart your whole website in order to find bugs. He will click on all elements and sees where the problems are. For example missing pictures, links that don't run etc. 

9. Sway finance

For all companies it is important to have an overview of the expenses. And how exhausting is it to always log into all sorts of accounts to know where you are at? Ain’t nobody got time for that! Sway summarises your earnings, expenses and your balance. You can even ask for a specific time frame and allow other user to see information. 

10. Asana 

Asana is here so you don't have to interrupt your workflow anymore in order to have another meeting. You can use this bot to get an overview of what everyone is working on at the moment and what has been done every day. Of course that doesn't eliminate meetings once for all, but its perfect for a little update and good to register progression long term.

These Top 10 agreed with us the most. We will continue to scan the forest of bots and to carry out test on them for you. Hey, what are your favourite bots?